Police Officer Anthony P. Perri

Anthony P. Perri

Police Officer Anthony Perri and Detective Sergeant John Nagle were shot and killed while responding to a silent alarm at the Northlake Bank.

When they arrived on the scene they were met with automatic gunfire from three men and were both fatally wounded. Two other officers were wounded, one seriously. An off-duty officer who happened to be nearby shot and seriously wounded one of the suspects.

The other two suspects escaped, but were captured the next day at a cottage at Fox Lake, 12 miles southeast of LaPorte, Indiana. One of the suspects had used the cottage for a hideout after committing a bank robbery 11 years earlier.

All three suspects were convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to 199 years in prison. Two of the suspects had recently been released from prison for bank robbery, one having served 10½ years and the other six years. In 1999, one offender died while serving his sentence. A second offender died in prison in 2011. The third and final offender died in prison in 2012 after numerous parole rejections.

Officer Perri had served with the Northlake Police Department for eight years. He was survived by his wife, 16-year-old son, 12-year-old daughter, two brothers, seven sisters and mother.